My impression was that guard on duty didn't realize they were expecting her, but eventually found the paperwork. And yes, typically someone guilty of a minor non-violent crime that is sentenced to one of the low security prisons, and is also not to be believed to be a threat to society other than their already committed crime is often given a date to surrender themselves into prison. I believe Martha Stewart is a good example of this.

I think when you are convicted of a "minor" crime you have a report date to show up. Paging Regbarc

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I unfortunately haven't seen the show, so I am not sure of the context.

But how it generally works with surrendering can fall into a couple of different categories. You can surrender to police because they have an arrest warrant out for you for a crime. You can surrender to police or sheriffs because you fail to report to Court for a hearing date (skipping bail).

In the context of the show, it sounds like the person was sentenced to a prison sentence and given a date to surrender herself to custody. This is common in, for instance, weekend DUI sentences (where someone is ordered to serve three months in prison to be served on weekends only). It's also (more rarely) associated with people who get relatively lengthy sentences and are allowed to take care of affairs at home for a couple of weeks before reporting to prison (they surrender either there, or surrender in the Courtroom). The main character in 25th Hour (a great movie) is in that situation. Generally the person has to be not an immediate threat to himself or others, so it is more common for drug cases than those cases involving victims (but that is not how it works all the time).

I've had people fail to surrender and it is nothing short of an unmitigated disaster for them. They face having the original sentence rescinded or revoked and a new, much more lengthy sentence imposed. Sometimes in absentia.